roguerouge Star Voter Season 6 |
cwslyclgh Marathon Voter Season 6, Marathon Voter Season 7, Star Voter Season 8 |
magdalena thiriet |
Three votes went for:
Derinogen
Malgana
Hecataeus
Fourth was then trickier, mainly it was a question between Gulga and Bracht...and I decided to go for Bracht (hoping that Gulga manages to get to next round though).
There were several other interesting entries which might see use in future campaigns...
Mark Moreland Director of Brand Strategy |
Surprisingly, none of the villains I voted for last round got my vote this round. I hope all four of my picks last time advance along with the four this time in any case, but these were the strongest all-around entries for round 3 in my opinion.
Eric Bailey—Vashkar, the False Maharajah
Joshua Blazej—Derinogen, Aristocratic Mage
Kevin Carter—Malgana the Twistwood Lich
Randy Dorman—Hecataeus, Master of Constructs
Elora |
Vashkar, the False Maharajah (awesome re-make of a round 2 villain I didn't vote for)
Aelfric Dream-Slayer (again, huge improvement this round, and I want to see what's next)
Malgana the Twistwood Lich (wow, a third villain I didn't like from round 2, but she's wicked fun now)
Gulga Cench, Scion of Cyth-V'sug (still one of my favorites, easily gets my vote again)
I also really liked: Hecataeus, Bracht Darkhouse and Derinogen. I was very happy that I had a hard time picking my top 4. Excellent job stepping things up for round 3!!
Daniel Simonson |
Joshua Blazej—Derinogen, Aristocratic Mage
Kevin Carter—Malgana the Twistwood Lich
Mark Thomas—Lord Jeroim Borloz, the Diamond Dragon
Trevor Gulliver—Bracht Darkhouse, The Flesh Peddler
I was also surprized. my originally, i liked Legendsinger most, but she really disapointed with that whole cut and paste thing. I thought for sure she would improve her weak concept. I was also surprized that the Twistwood Lich is on my list. As i hated the original concept.
I gave trevor a pass because he has the most original concept, and i think that he can easily explain some of the loops. the ability to create flesh golums would round off alot of the judges questions. Plus, who doesn't want to see this guys pad?
Mark Made it in Shearly on my Love of monks and Dorfs. His concept really needs alot more detail, and i expect him to deliver. WHERE DID THE DRAGON GO. Since you seemed to miss this in R2.
Hecitous was a choice, but in the end. He wasn't as interesting as the other villans. All i really had to look forward to was alot of Golum fights.
thunderspirit Marathon Voter Season 6, Marathon Voter Season 7, Marathon Voter Season 8 |
Glass Castle |
It was a difficult decision. To help my decision, I read each villain twice and graded them in three categories; Story, Stats, and Fun.
(Note: I will NOT be posting my reasoning for grading each character; the grading lacks commentary, and thus only will be of limited use.)
* Story related to how intriguing and playable the background was.
* Stats related to the judges' comments on how things were put together and my take on the "tactics" and "special abilities"
* Fun was a composite statistic that reflected personal usability, writing skills of the author, appeal of each authors' tone, and a feel for each villain.
Perhaps that rating system might appeal to others who are trying to divine which characters appealed to them best... I dunno, Just putting it out there- I know I took into account other people's comments while trying to figure out how I could possibly evaluate 16 gigantic submissions. Congrats again to all the participants!
1) Derinogen
2) Falconbridge
3) Sartel
4) Malgana
If I had more votes; I also enjoyed: Vashkar, Hecataeus, Gulga.
Glass Castle |
...A little early to do this, but for what it's worth:
It seems like a much broader spread this time!
~ LD
1 Kevin Carter—Malgana the Twistwood Lich (9)
2 Randy Dorman—Hecataeus, Master of Constructs (6)
3 Vashkar, the False Maharajah (5)
4 Gulga Cench, Scion of Cyth-V'sug (4)
4 Joshua Blazej—Derinogen, Aristocratic Mage (4)
4 Trevor Gulliver—Bracht Darkhouse, The Flesh Peddler (4)
7 Sartel (3)
8 Falconbridge (2)
R'Ytha (1)
Mark Thomas—Lord Jeroim Borloz, the Diamond Dragon (1)
Aelfric Dream-Slayer (1)
Kar-en-Helit (1)
Kardam (1)
Keith Duperreault |
Only one out of the four I voted for in round 2 has kept my vote in round 3.
Randy Dorman—Hecataeus, Master of Constructs
I'd definately use this villain in a module. The concept is still solid and the stat block is seems to represent him well. Hands down my favorite so far.
My three other votes go some other very solid entries that match well with the great concepts provided:
Kevin Carter—Malgana the Twistwood Lich
Eric Bailey—Vashkar, the False Maharajah
Joshua Blazej—Derinogen, Aristocratic Mage
Lucas Jung RPG Superstar 2009 Top 32 |
For me, voting was tough this round for two reasons: first, two of villains I liked best from last round weren't competitive this round. I liked their concepts so much that it just kills me that I couldn't bring myself to vote for them again because of their stat blocks. Second, there were some very strong choices, and I had a hard time cutting my list to four. In the end, I chose:
- Hecataeus, Master of Constructs
- Rustin Harp, The Vengeance of Freaks
- Count Falconbridge, Fate's Adversary
- Volner Tain
Last round I liked Hecataeus a little, but wasn't crazy about him. This round he catapulted into my "favorite" position. Rustin Harp was high on my list last round, and stayed strong this round. The last two votes were the hardest for me. I also considered Derinogen, and I strongly considered Vashkar. In the end, I made the decision based on personal tastes because I really couldn't decide which were the better entries. Good luck to all of you!
Sue Flaherty RPG Superstar 2011 Top 32 aka Gamer Girrl |
Oy, I could have really used five votes this round. Two were easy choices for me, and three I agonized over. Then four honorable mentions.
My votes in Alpha order by Author:
Eric Bailey - Vashkar, The False Maharajah
Kevin Carter - Malgana. The Twistwood Lich (Witch <G>)
Neil Spicer - Gulga Cench, Scion of Cyth-V'sug
Randy Dorman - Hecataeus, Master of Constructs
Fifth Vote if I'd been able:
Trevor Gulliver - Bracht Darkhouse, The Flesh Peddlar
Honorable Mentions:
James Graham - Count Falconbridge, Fate's Advisary
Joshua Blazej - Derinogen, Aristrocratic Mage
Matt Branach - Rustin Harp, The Vengeance of Freaks
Phillip Snyder - Ryth'a
Good luck to everyone!!
Samuel Leming |
Voting was tougher this round. I eliminated all but seven for what I hoped were rational reasons and then just let my emotions guide me for which four of those to select.
I voted for:
- Derinogen
- Gulga Cench
- Malgana
- Vashkar
Still, there are more than a couple more that I hope pass on to the next round.
Sam
Starglim Dedicated Voter Season 6, Star Voter Season 7, Dedicated Voter Season 8 |
Lukas Klausner |
I voted for:
* Malgana -- improved on the original concept (which was very cool, but not workable) to make her just great
* Sartel Bollen -- was great before and still is
* Gulga Cench -- a few issues with making him too complicated, but I like evil scheming scientists
* Hecataeus -- while I did not like him in round two (too flat, not really usable), I hoped he would improve if he got through; that's just what he did
I could also have voted for Derinogen, who is still a very well-designed low-level villain, and Rustin Harp and Kardam, who both have interesting ideas -- but Rustin Harp and Kardam are just not as good as the other five I mentioned IMO, and Derinogen just seemed a tiny bit less interesting than the other four.
Maurice de Mare RPG Superstar 2013 Top 16 , Marathon Voter Season 6, Marathon Voter Season 7, Marathon Voter Season 8, Dedicated Voter Season 9 aka Darkjoy |
Taliesin Hoyle |
S
p
a
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1--Carl Klutzke— Sharina, Legend Singer
1--Doyle Tavener— Kar-En-Helit, Vessel of Moeris
11--Eric Bailey— Vashkar, the False Maharajah
1--Eric Morton— Aelfric Dream-Slayer
1--Jacob Manley— Volner Tain
3--James F.D. Graham— Count Falconbridge, Fate's Adversary
0--Joao Beraldo— Boemundo, Brenno's Shadow Protector
7--Joshua Blazej— Derinogen, Aristocratic Mage
15--Kevin Carter— Malgana the Twistwood Lich
1--Mark Thomas— Lord Jeroim Borloz, the Diamond Dragon
1--Matt Banach— Rustin Harp, the Vengeance of Freaks
5--Matthew Stinson— Sartel Bollen, Mistress of the Headless Caravan
8--Neil Spicer— Gulga Cench, Scion of Cyth-V'sug
1--Philip Snyder— Ryth'a
9--Randy Dorman— Hecataeus, Master of Constructs
4--Trevor Gulliver— Bracht Darkhouse, The Flesh Peddler
1--Vladislav Rashkovski— Kardam, the Burning Khan
Jason Nelson Contributor, RPG Superstar 2008 Top 4, Legendary Games |
Jason Nelson Contributor, RPG Superstar 2008 Top 4, Legendary Games |
I actually had a bit of a tough time this time around, but in the end I settled on the following:
There were two I liked fairly well in the first round but fell short of a vote. However, the improvements they made were great and really pushed them up "pretty good, but not quite there" to "yeah, now THAT is what I'm talkin about":
1. Hecataeus.
2. Vashkar.
Then there were two I really liked in the first round (one I didn't vote for because it was the lead-pipe cinch front-runner) that I thought were still very good, though others in the field caught up to or passed them between round 2 and round 3. Note to everyone in the contest - DON'T LET UP! You gotta bring the awesome every round. These two were roughly tied with my honorable mentions but won out because their items were probably my 2 favorites in the first round. Body of work does count, as it speaks to overall skills and imagination and would I want to see the full meal deal of what this person can bring to an adventure. So, these two are:
3. Derinogen
4. Gulga Cench
Others very close but just missing out were:
Malgana
Bracht
Sartel
Rustin
One of those (Bracht) was a great concept that I felt like didn't quite measure up on stat block to the others. The other three (Malgana, Sartel, and Rustin) were ones that in the previous round were at the bottom of my list, ones I honestly wouldn't have thought of voting for at all, but some hardcore reimagining, tightening of backstory, deft stat block work, and fun new mechanics pushed them up to the brink. Excellent job to all of you and hope you make it through and we see what you can do next time!
The other thing to remember is you're never out of it until you are out. If you are the last person in from the previous round, you have another shot in the new round to kick butt all the way to the top. It's like the old joke: "What did they call the person who graduated last in their class from medical school? ... Doctor."
Front-runners come and front-runners go, and while it can be fun to "win" the exit poll for a round, it doesn't mean you've got a free pass for the next, and just because you scraped through one round doesn't mean you're not going to kick everyone's tail the next. Last year, James Mackenzie had to get golden ticketed in on the items round, then he "won" the country round, and then he was out in the villains round. I had an interesting but maybe iffy villain but made it through, and then narrowly "won" the 3-linked-monsters round, but then probably scraped through as the #4 out of 4 in the encounters round.
In this contest, there are ups and downs and you never can tell, but if you advance each round, take a deep breath and then get back in there swingin until someone someone tells you to stop! You may just end up the next RPG Superstar!
And that's one to grow on... :)
roguerouge Star Voter Season 6 |
Voted for, in order of preference:
Eric Bailey—Vashkar, the False Maharajah (the item demonstrated unimpeachable design; the first villain a taste for a classic themes; this round shows the ability to go gonzo and have really epic plans; Vashkar's got great flavor, solid improvement, good campaign-ending fight)
Kevin Carter—Malgana the Twistwood Lich (Last round's faith was rewarded. Now, about those goblins...)
Neil Spicer—Gulga Cench, Scion of Cyth-V'sug (Because they read his entry first, people seem to be taking the problems of high level play in Pathfinder out on one Superstar. Gulga's still good. Plus, you'll see in last round's forums that Spicer can write good villain monologues. I'll want that in a module.)
Trevor Gulliver—Bracht Darkhouse, The Flesh Peddler (Winner of the five-way battle royale, largely because I want to see his lair more than I wanted to see those of the other four villains.)
Honorable mention:
Randy Dorman—Hecataeus, Master of Constructs
Matt Banach—Rustin Harp, the Vengeance of Freaks
James F.D. Graham—Count Falconbridge, Fate's Adversary
Philip Snyder—Ryth'a
roguerouge Star Voter Season 6 |
roguerouge wrote:Plus, you'll see in last round's forums that Spicer can write good villain monologues. I'll want that in a module.More support for Clark's "contestants shouldn't be able to post at all" position. I'm agreeing with him more and more.
Oh, come on. Have a sense of humor, dude. I voted for him without that, even if it weren't a relevant skill.
Trevor Gulliver RPG Superstar 2009 Top 8 aka Tarren Dei |
William Senn wrote:Oh, come on. Have a sense of humor, dude. I voted for him without that, even if it weren't a relevant skill.roguerouge wrote:Plus, you'll see in last round's forums that Spicer can write good villain monologues. I'll want that in a module.More support for Clark's "contestants shouldn't be able to post at all" position. I'm agreeing with him more and more.
Unless I missed something, Spicer followed the rules to the letter and then asked for clarification and permission before posting in his round 2 entry thread after the round 2 voting was closed. If all of the contestants conducted themselves the way Neil does (and almost all do), there would be no need for the judges to repeat the rules again and again.
William Senn |
Oh, come on. Have a sense of humor, dude. I voted for him without that, even if it weren't a relevant skill.
It's a relevant skill, but not a relevant judging criteria. We're supposed to be judging these based on their entries, not their comments about their entries.
Unless I missed something, Spicer followed the rules to the letter and then asked for clarification and permission before posting in his round 2 entry thread after the round 2 voting was closed. If all of the contestants conducted themselves the way Neil does (and almost all do), there would be no need for the judges to repeat the rules again and again.
You missed something. Neil actually stopped the Gulga Cench postings because there were warnings that he was toeing the line.
Neil Spicer Contributor, RPG Superstar 2009, RPG Superstar Judgernaut |
Neil actually stopped the Gulga Cench postings because there were warnings that he was toeing the line.
William is right. Early on, I asked for guidance on whether it was okay to post responses in our Round Two villain threads. Vic gave it the thumbs up, but asked us to avoid discussing anything that might relate to our stat block. I came back and posted once more (another in-character post not related to the stat-block) after Round Three started. Clark cautioned me to "be careful"...to which I voluntarily decided I'd stop the Gulga postings completely rather than risk "toeing the line."
I think it's been a bit harder this year in terms of designer participation to control our posting. We were all encouraged in our Top 32 notifications to establish an online presence and personality so the voters could get to know us a little better. Please understand, that's what I've been trying to do from round to round. But it's brought many of us into potential rules violation. We're trying to discuss the previous round's entry like everyone did last year. But, last year's rounds were very distinct and separate where you could do that without risking promoting or explaining your entry for the next round. They generally didn't carry things forward into future rounds. Since, we seem to be doing a lot of that this year, that's where the confusion comes in.
But, regardless, none of that matters. The bottom line is that I'm fine with not posting anything between rounds about any of our entries. If the judges want to disable posting by the contestants, I'm okay with that. For now, I'm going to self-regulate. And William (or anyone else) is right to call any of us on it if we fail to do so.
Just my two-cents,
--Neil
roguerouge Star Voter Season 6 |
Neil actually stopped the Gulga Cench postings because there were warnings that he was toeing the line.
Clark cautioned me to "be careful"...to which I voluntarily decided I'd stop the Gulga postings completely rather than risk "toeing the line."
What the judge actually said was:
"I would be real careful, since you may be using your round 2 villain for round 3. So be careful."
Unless someone can come up with a link to something else, it hardly reads like anything remotely close to a reprimand for his in-character posts on his thread. There were no mentions of Gulga's toes either or what he might be doing with them. Nor is there any comment from a judge in the round two thread. I found Neil's posts to be entertaining time-wasting. Is this a big deal? Not remotely to me. But YMMV.
Cleaver |
0?--Carl Klutzke— Sharina, Legend Singer
1--Doyle Tavener— Kar-En-Helit, Vessel of Moeris
13--Eric Bailey— Vashkar, the False Maharajah
1--Eric Morton— Aelfric Dream-Slayer
1--Jacob Manley— Volner Tain
5--James F.D. Graham— Count Falconbridge, Fate's Adversary
0--Joao Beraldo— Boemundo, Brenno's Shadow Protector
8--Joshua Blazej— Derinogen, Aristocratic Mage
18--Kevin Carter— Malgana the Twistwood Lich
1--Mark Thomas— Lord Jeroim Borloz, the Diamond Dragon
2--Matt Banach— Rustin Harp, the Vengeance of Freaks
5--Matthew Stinson— Sartel Bollen, Mistress of the Headless Caravan
10--Neil Spicer— Gulga Cench, Scion of Cyth-V'sug
1--Philip Snyder— Ryth'a
11--Randy Dorman— Hecataeus, Master of Constructs
4--Trevor Gulliver— Bracht Darkhouse, The Flesh Peddler
1--Vladislav Rashkovski— Kardam, the Burning Khan
Thank you for typing up this list that I could just copy and paste. A little confused, though...could not find the Sharina vote. Probably my bad math (which is ironic on a stat block round). Can someone point me to it?
Cleaver |
In another form (easier for me to see what's going on):
18--Kevin Carter— Malgana the Twistwood Lich
13--Eric Bailey— Vashkar, the False Maharajah
11--Randy Dorman— Hecataeus, Master of Constructs
10--Neil Spicer— Gulga Cench, Scion of Cyth-V'sug
8--Joshua Blazej— Derinogen, Aristocratic Mage
5--James F.D. Graham— Count Falconbridge, Fate's Adversary
5--Matthew Stinson— Sartel Bollen, Mistress of the Headless Caravan
4--Trevor Gulliver— Bracht Darkhouse, The Flesh Peddler
2--Matt Banach— Rustin Harp, the Vengeance of Freaks
1--Doyle Tavener— Kar-En-Helit, Vessel of Moeris
1--Eric Morton— Aelfric Dream-Slayer
1--Jacob Manley— Volner Tain
1--Mark Thomas— Lord Jeroim Borloz, the Diamond Dragon
1--Philip Snyder— Ryth'a
1--Vladislav Rashkovski— Kardam, the Burning Khan
0?--Carl Klutzke— Sharina, Legend Singer
0--Joao Beraldo— Boemundo, Brenno's Shadow Protector
Montalve |
20 Malgana
16 Vashkar
12 Hecateus
11 Derinogen
10 Gulga
07 Falconbridge
06 Bracht
05 Sartel
02 Rustin Harp
01 R'Ytha
01 Lord Jeroim Borloz
01 Aelfric Dream-Slayer
01 Kar-en-Helit
01 Kardam
01 VolterTain
01 Sharina
00 Boemundo
My numbers say this... that include my 4 votes... I have been tempted to mache changes... but for now I think I will keep things are they are...
as theyappear in thelist above, my votes are for:
Malgana: Great villain, great come back... as I mentioned it in its thread it brings an aura of Blair Witch Project, loved it.
Vashkar: Again, great descriptions... but now with focus... I really liked this villain... but what finished winning me was the bloodline
Derinogen: now i really liked him, he is great, and I would love to hate him... and the elixir you created... just great :)
Falconbridge: there is much to make better on this one... still the concept of the one fighting against fate itself and a mechanical way to actually be able to use precognition in game... the spell was great... this alone make me vote...
I wont make any special mentions, even when I liked some of the other villains... but I believe they all did their best effort (Vlad i know that for reasons out of the contest you were unable :S bad I liked your concept very much)... as many others I were unable to vote for the ones I did the last round... I liked them... but the 4 I vote now give me more
right now I see things deciding in a way... but there is alot of time to do this
Eric Morton RPG Superstar 2009 Top 16, 2012 Top 32 , Marathon Voter Season 6, Marathon Voter Season 7, Marathon Voter Season 8, Marathon Voter Season 9 aka Epic Meepo |
I think it's been a bit harder this year in terms of designer participation to control our posting.
Tell me about it. Since I'm crashing and burning this round anyway, I'm half-tempted to disqualify myself just to do some designer participation posting while the voting public still remembers who I am.
Taliesin Hoyle |
20 -- Kevin Carter— Malgana the Twistwood Lich
16--Eric Bailey— Vashkar, the False Maharajah
12--Randy Dorman— Hecataeus, Master of Constructs
11--Joshua Blazej— Derinogen, Aristocratic Mage
10--Neil Spicer— Gulga Cench, Scion of Cyth-V'sug
07--James F.D. Graham— Count Falconbridge, Fate's Adversary
06--Trevor Gulliver— Bracht Darkhouse, The Flesh Peddler
05--Matthew Stinson— Sartel Bollen, Mistress of the Headless Caravan
02--Matt Banach— Rustin Harp, the Vengeance of Freaks
01--Doyle Tavener— Kar-En-Helit, Vessel of Moeris
01--Eric Morton— Aelfric Dream-Slayer
01--Jacob Manley— Volner Tain
01--Mark Thomas— Lord Jeroim Borloz, the Diamond Dragon
01--Philip Snyder— Ryth'a
01--Vladislav Rashkovski— Kardam, the Burning Khan
01--Carl Klutzke— Sharina, Legend Singer
0--Joao Beraldo— Boemundo, Brenno's Shadow Protector
roguerouge Star Voter Season 6 |
magdalena thiriet |
roguerouge wrote:Plus, you'll see in last round's forums that Spicer can write good villain monologues. I'll want that in a module.More support for Clark's "contestants shouldn't be able to post at all" position. I'm agreeing with him more and more.
Posting in threads can also be dangerous, you might end up giving a poor image of yourself as well. So it is a gamble option too, and as such I welcome it to the contest.
Tell me about it. Since I'm crashing and burning this round anyway, I'm half-tempted to disqualify myself just to do some designer participation posting while the voting public still remembers who I am.
Don't count those chickens yet, this is only an exit poll and it's not like your entry is universally hated. The vote margin for that 8th position is not unachievable for anyone yet...
Starglim Dedicated Voter Season 6, Star Voter Season 7, Dedicated Voter Season 8 |
Thank you for typing up this list that I could just copy and paste. A little confused, though...could not find the Sharina vote. Probably my bad math (which is ironic on a stat block round). Can someone point me to it?
No, I agree, unless Taliesin voted for her and included it in the count, nobody declared a vote for Sharina up until his first post.
Medievaltom |
Here are my votes, in the order they appear on the ballot page:
-Vashkar
-Count Falconbridge
-Ryth'a
-Hecataeus
This was a tough round. There were several villain concepts I really liked, but had to pass over due to the judges' rule-fu concerns. I'll admit, though, that I tend to not pay so much attention to the nitty-gritty rules when I DM (rarely), and focus instead on making a fun game. I'm sure that all the contestants who made it this far run some awesome games, so kudos for that (and thanks for all the great ideas that I want to use someday).
Taliesin Hoyle |
Cleaver wrote:Thank you for typing up this list that I could just copy and paste. A little confused, though...could not find the Sharina vote. Probably my bad math (which is ironic on a stat block round). Can someone point me to it?No, I agree, unless Taliesin voted for her and included it in the count, nobody declared a vote for Sharina up until his first post.
I thought Montalve had.